Getting Health into the 2015 Climate Change Agreement

Getting Health into the 2015 Climate Change Agreement

Article excerpt

World Health Organization (WHO) experts will join their colleagues from health and environment nongovernmental organizations at a Climate and Health Summit on 16 November to prepare their case for the strong inclusion of health in a global climate agreement.

The one-day summit in Warsaw, Poland, will take place in parallel with climate change talks in the city from 11-22 November, during which about 200 participating nations will work towards a new global agreement on greenhouse gas emissions to be signed in 2015.

"The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process is taking more account of health and WHO is involved in operational mechanisms established to support countries to mitigate and adapt to the negative consequences of climate change," said Dr Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum, a scientist working with WHO's Evidence and Policy in Emerging Environmental Health Issues unit.

Health is included in two key articles of the UNFCCC and WHO is working with the UNFCCC secretariat to provide support to countries in designing the health component of national plans for adapting to climate change, he explained. In addition, WHO closely follows the UNFCCC process to identify opportunities for health--a key sector for building resilience to climate change effects. …